I'm lucky enough to have two sets of tires, a 19'' set for around town and long trips and a set of 18's with 285/60/18's for the dirty stuff. Every time I've changed them at home I've struggled with the suspension extending so far I have trouble getting the wheel off. I searched the forums for a trick and haven't found any that work (Off road height and leaving doors open etc). Curiously the one time I had to change tires on the trail I didn't have any issues. Tips, Tricks, Secrets? Thanks

 

The owners manual says to set the truck in off-road suspension height, while truck is running, allow it time to adjust, turn off, then jack vehicle. This doesn't work and creates the scenario you described. I jack the vehicle in normal street ride mode. When lifted, the auto shocks self-adjust a little bit, but not to extent you refer to. If you're changing wheels, it will be even easier to use your floor jack and lift one whole side of truck at a time. Always use jack stands just in case.

 

I've tried both methods you describe with little success. I've settled on a routine of using the floor Jack to raise the corner up, placing a jack-stand and lifting the control arm with the floor jack and a block of wood to raise the wheel. It just shouldn't be this hard. And I certainly wont have the floor jack on the side of the freeway.

 

My factory jack broke, so I bought a bottle jack as a replacement. The bottle jack fits under the control arm nicely and makes lifting and lowering the vehicle MUCH easier.

 

Bottle Jack under the control arm of the wheel you are changing is the best remedy. It will self adjust hopefully not much that you can't get your mud tires on. setting to off road height will remedy this as well.

 

and for the love of god, don't put the jack on the compressor. Seen too many people do that and destroy the compressor and the bracket as well.

 

THIS! I never thought Jacking a car was such an ordeal but yes you have to follow the owners manual and definitely be VERY careful of your jack placement!

 

Lol, I had Americas Tire do a tire rotation for me and the mechanic did exactly that. They ended up paying for a new compressor setup.

 

Just watched the mechanic do the following on my vehicle with a floor jack- raised up the side of the vehicle until one tire was about 10 inches off the ground and the rear was still touching. He then put a jack stand closer to the rear tire and released pressure on the jack. Caused the weight to pivot around the jack stand a bit resulting in both tires about an inch off the ground. Seemed like a good technique.